Schierhout imposes an austere intelligence and sense of regret on this remarkable narrative. If any novel published this year deserves a truckload of honours, it is this one. No reader could be prepared for the complex tale that unfolds. It is a beautiful book, as bleak as love and as heartbreaking

Written with an elliptical elegance reminiscent of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient this is a strong debut about the grip of memory and the power of one life to impose itself upon another

Her novel is not unlike the diamonds of which she writes: hard, glinting and multifaceted, suggestive of intense compression and unfathomable depths

Tender and perceptive

This tender and vivid novel of an exiled Arab woman's life in Britain, and memories of trauma at home, connects desert to Devon with warmth and wit

Urgent and enquiring

There are some moving passages, notably his father's arresting deathbed monologue about the racism and brutality he endured in an unfairly hard life

Phillips subtly conveys a changing sense of attitude and perspective... It is a bleak message, brilliantly delivered

Praise for Liane Moriarty

Every single one of her books is a great read

Staggeringly brilliant, literally unputdownable

Keeps you guessing until the very end - perfect summer read

Moriarty writes vividly, wittily and wickedly

The writing is beautiful: sometimes funny, sometimes sad but always compelling

Like drinking a pink cosmo laced with arsenic . . . a fun, engaging and sometimes disturbing read

Riveting drama packed with suspense and secrets

Wise, honest, beautifully observed. One of the few writers I'll drop anything for

Straight-from-life characters, knife-sharp insight and almost unbearable suspense will have you racing through it

Perfect

A hell of a good book. Funny and scary

A cracking story cleverly told

Fascinating and compassionate